Secretary of State Mary Herrera's office hasn't used hundreds of thousands of dollars the New Mexico Legislature allocated over the past two years to fix a troublesome campaign finance reporting system.

The current electronic filing system, which dates to the 1990s, remains slow, difficult to use and doesn't allow data searches. Candidates, the public and journalists have long decried the software, which state law requires office seekers to use when filing campaign reports.

Office spokesman James Flores said the agency hopes to bank the money allocated by the Legislature and seek additional funds to eventually buy a new computer system. "We're going to be lobbying aggressively for those funds," he said of the proposed new system, which he estimated could cost between $800,000 and $1 million.

The latest round of complaints came this week, when the office announced it won't be able to post campaign reports on its Web site — including reports that candidates filed online — until May 26.

Monday was the most recent filing deadline for candidates in the June 3 primary elections.

Staffers blame the delay on the slowness of the existing system and say they need more time to scan in and post about 30 reports from candidates who asked for waivers from the online reporting requirement and filed on paper.

The state Board of Elections decided to post all candidate campaign finance information online at the same time, Flores said, to be fair to candidates.